


Slipping Away

by thereisnowyou



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Dementia, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Family, Grief/Mourning, Loss, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-23 05:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30050928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisnowyou/pseuds/thereisnowyou
Summary: A fill in / post 11x08 fic with major spoilers for 11x08.It's been a bad day for all of the Gallagher's and after receiving some pretty tough news they realize that the future is only going to be filled with more. Meanwhile Ian and Mickey are also coping with a life altering event.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Lip Gallagher/Tami Tamietti
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	1. A Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! this is my fill in / post 11x08 fic, I think I might add a few more chapters to this? let me know what you think. 
> 
> Also please check out my tumblr which is under the same username thereisnowyou because I'd love to engage more with y'all and take fic requests and talk about Shameless!

Ian really had no idea what to do when they walked into the living room to find Terry, dead at the hands of the nurse they had hired to take care of him. he did however have a feeling that Mickey might try to kill that nun, so he was ready when Mickey whipped around and started towards the door like a bat out of hell. He did the only thing he could really think of which was wrapping his arms around his husband and whispering in his ear how neither of them was going to jail today.

Mickey leaned into Ian, he didn’t want to go back to jail, didn’t want to be away from Ian. So he leaned in and let Ian just hold him while tears started to fall and he let out a single body wracking sob, which only made Ian hold him tighter, before pulling back and wiping his eyes.

“We have to call the cops and I have to call my shit head siblings and cousins.”

So, Ian did just that, he called the cops and let them know what happened, and then he called the agency he had hired the nun from. All while he watched Mickey stand off away from where he could see Terry, calling his family and yelling at all of the shit heads.

When he was done making calls he went and stood next to Mickey while they waited for the cops to show up, how arm around Mickey’s shoulders holding him as close as he could. He looked down at his phone as the cops were arriving, a text from Carl had popped up, a 9-1-1 about Frank.

Fuck he’d missed Liam’s thing and now Frank was being well fucking Frank.

Lip texted asking how bad it was, clearly he wasn’t the only Gallagher having a day.

When Carl texted back that it was so bad they all needed to get to the hospital stat Ian sighed and rubbed his temple before putting his phone in his pocket. Thankfully just then Sandy, who looked like she’d been fuckign throught it, walked in.

“You good?”

“Your sister fucking dumped me on the porch.”

Mickey rolled his eyes and turned to Ian, “A popular spot for you Gallagher's I guess”

Ian rolled his eyes and just kissed his husband’s forehead, “It all worked out in the end”

“As cute as you two are, what the fuck happened?”

“Hired a nun to be a nurse cause non of our fucking family would watch Terry and she said he was so evil he needed to die.”

Sandy looked at the two boys wide eyed.

“Yeah, it’s been a great fucking day.”

“And it’s about to get worse, I got a 9-1-1 text from Carl about Frank, we all need to go to the hospital. I can stay though if you need me, I’ll tell them I just can’t do this today.”

“Nah we already missed Liam’s thing and you’ve shown up for my family all day, go show up for your own and I’ll text you any updates and see you guys at home.”

Ian leaned down and pressed a kiss to Mickey’s lips before mumbling and I love you, text me if you need anything. 

**

It was a really bad fucking day. Ian had no words and honestly, he didn’t think his siblings did either. They just stood there and stared at Frank, their father. The only parent they had left but at the same time hardly a parent. Hell, he wasn’t even biologically Ian’s dad but also. he was Ian’s dad. They’d never had a good relationship. Frank fought with Ian worse than any of the other kids. Still, he was standing there absolutely gutted knowing that his father was slowly slipping away.

Would there be a day that he forgets who they were all together? What if he forgot Monica died or that Fiona was gone or all of the other things, they’d been through? He looked over at his siblings, they all had expressions that he was sure mirrored his own. No one liked Frank, but no one wanted to loose him either.  
Eventually Lip cleared his throat and said that they should head home, that he and Tami would meet them at the house.

Debs and Franny got into her truck and Liam and Carl went with Ian, walking just a few blocks to the ambulance before hopping in to head home. 

Carl was the first to speak up, “So I know I’m not the brightest but like is frank going to die?”

Ian took a deep breath and looked over at his younger brothers. “Yeah, eventually he probably won’t remember us, and he won’t be able to take care of himself and then he’ll just kind of slip away. There’s no saying how long he has and with todays incident I think that things are moving pretty fast.”

“Does that mean I’m gonna be an orphan soon?” Liam asked.

Ian’s heart broke as he turned to the youngest Gallagher. They were all adults, they were grown-ish and even though this was crushing for them, they had lives and families of their own for the most part. Liam was twelve. He still had so much ahead of him.

“Legally yes, but you know we’re all always going to take care of you.”

“What about when Lip sells the house, and you all move away on your own?”

“You’ll come with me and Mickey.” Ian had never talked about that with Mickey but like Mickey said, family was family and he knew that even though he might be sad about not being able to have sex in the kitchen everyday that Mickey loved Liam so much he wouldn’t care.

“Really? Are you sure? Will Mickey be okay with that?”

“Of course.”

**

After they all got to the Gallagher house they had sat at the table in silence for a while. It was maybe half an hour later when Mickey came in, red eyed and looking like absolute hell. He stopped in his tracks when he walked into the kitchen, the air was thick with sadness and he guessed it wasn’t’ over Terry.

“So uh why is it sadder in this fucking kitchen than in the house my dad just got killed in?”

“Frank’s got alcoholic dementia” Carl said, deadpan before Lip added on “Fucking drank so much he pickled his brain”

“So now we just get to watch him slip away and eventually die and we can’t do anything to help.” Ian finished.

“Jesus fuck, this is one bad fucking day.”


	2. The Gallagher Way

No one felt like cooking so Lip and Tami went out to grab some pizza’s along with picking up Fred from her dads. The rest of the family just sat at the table sitting and waiting for them to come back. No one was really sure what to do next.

Ian and Mickey were sitting next to each other, Ian holding onto Mickey’s hand and Mickey half laying against Ian. Carl brought over some beers for them, even passing one to Liam. 

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Debbie asked. It wasn’t a question anyone really had the answer to, it was pretty much just a matter of figure it out as they went and as the disease progressed.

“Fuck if I know,” Carl said, taking a drink, “How you holding up Mick?” he asked.

Mickey sighed, “Dad’s fucking dad, some nun killed him which is some good fucking karma but fuck if I know what to do next.”

Liam sighed and simply said, “We all have fucking daddy issues in this family.”

Everyone turned to him as he took a sip of his beer. The kid wasn’t wrong honestly.

“You got that right kid,” Mickey stated while clinking his bottle with Liam’s

Just then Mickey and Tami came in carrying the food and Fred who was quickly passed to Ian who was the absolute biggest baby hog. They all sat down with their food and drinks, all of them taking a quick glance to the living room where Frank was passed out on the couch.

Tami was the first to speak, which wasn’t surprising because even though she was very ingrained in the Gallagher fabric, she still didn’t really get it.

“So, what are we going to do about Frank? Should we start looking at facilities or something?”

They all looked over at her with confused faces, Mickey was the first to speak up, “Tami this is the southside. My dad got murdered by the nun we hired to be his caretaker today. That’s just not how we do shit here.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We take care of him here.”

Tamie just looked at Mickey, confused as to how a non-Gallagher was so in tune to this weird way of doing things, from what she knew his entire family had pretty much split on him and then on his dad.

“Mickey’s right, we take care of him here, we monitor it and keep an eye on him until we need to take shifts for round the clock care which I see in the not so far-off future.” Lip said before taking a long sip of his coffee, knowing he’d be on the porch smoking with Ian as soon as he could be.

That future really wasn’t far off at all because Cami called and said she needed help so Tami left with Fred and not long after Debbie, Carl, and Liam all went to their respective rooms and Mickey went up to shower, knowing Ian and Lip would end up smoking on the porch while he did so.

“Frank’s dying man,” Lip said as soon as they sat down. There was more behind that statement than he wanted to say but he knew Ian would because he was Ian.

“Yeah, he is, it’s weird because I was maybe the only one who was close with Monica. Frank’s never liked me, hell I’m not even his, still he’s our dad. Only dad I’ve ever known.”

“Maybe now’s a good time to cash in on that whole bastard child thing.” Lip cracker, earning him a push from Ian who just rolled his eyes.

“You and I man we really are the fucking products of our parents, I got Monica’s crazy and you got Frank’s alcoholism.”

They were both silent for a minute, knowing that if they hadn’t gotten control of their lives and didn’t keep that control that they’d likely become what their parents had.

“But we’re not them, you’re on meds and I’m sober. We’re not perfect but I’m never putting Fred through this shit and honestly I don’t think Mickey will ever let you become Monica but even then, you’d never be her.”

Ian smiled, thinking about how caring Mickey was and how every night he laid out water with Ian’s pills for that night and then for the next morning with a small bag of crackers so even if he didn’t have time for breakfast he had something. He wasn’t Monica and Mickey would never let him become her.

**   
Not long after Lip left and went home to Tami. They put Fred to sleep and both went into the kitchen, both with a cup of coffee.

“Listen I’m down for the whole Gallagher we take care of our own method. But are you sure you guys can handle this? This isn’t just covering up a crime or helping with a robbery, this is like intense mental and medical shit.”

“We grew up with a bipolar mom who one thanksgiving slit her wrists in the kitchen, Liam once OD’d on coke when he was like four, and Ian has gone manic and depressive more times than I’d like to count and we always take care of our own.”

“Lip I love you and your family, but you do realize that you guys are fucked, right?”

“Oh definitely.”

“You know, I didn’t realize Ian had ever been so sick.”

“It’s bad, Mickey’s always taken care of him, tried as hard as he can. When Mickey hasn’t been around it usually ended in Ian and prison. Mickey might be an asshole but he really is family and he treats all of us like family and takes care of Ian better than we could have. We had so much shit in our own lives but Ian was his and is his whole ass fucking world.”

“You Gallagher’s really do love hard and find people who love just as, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we do.”

**

Ian went upstairs and showered before heading into his and Mickey’s room. When he walked in Mickey was laying in the bed staring at the wall. He didn’t have to look to know that Mickey was crying. Still, he knew what he needed to do and he laid down behind Mickey and pulled him close, kissing the top of his head and letting the comfortable but somber silence engulf both of the, as they processed the day they had both had. Both men knowing that the events of today were going to change their lives more than they ever thought would happen in such a short amount of time.


End file.
